Dan the Soldier Man
by Jellybeansarecool
Summary: How the little toy soldier from 'Listen' (season 8, ep. 4) traveled through time and space protecting those that held it dear.


**A/N:**

 **Any dialogue you recognize is from the amazing writers of Doctor Who.**

 **So I was watching _Listen_ yesterday and I began wondering how the little toy soldier got passed along. The set up seemed to be pointing towards Clara and Danny having some sort of family together. As much as I would have loved that it wasn't to be. Danny died and then Clara eventually became stuck at the moment of death. **

**Now it could just be that time was rewritten and that Orson was meant to be a descendant but because of Missy and the events that were to follow time was changed. However, I like to think that the episode still works with the rest of the series.**

 **Enough of my ramblings. Read and enjoy :)**

Clara looked at the small soldier figurine that Orson held out to her. No. It couldn't be. It couldn't be. First a young Danny – Rupert – and now a man with the same last name who looks just like him. Fear pooled in her stomach. The Doctor said that this man had something to do with her time line. It couldn't be. Her mind refused to accept what was in front of her.

Clara was about to walk up the stairs and go back to the main part of the console room when she turned to look at Orson.

"It runs in the family." He said softly.

"What? Sorry, what do you mean, runs in the family?" The fear is there again. Family, what family? Danny's family?

"Nothing. It's just silly stories one of my grandparents. Well, great-grandparents…"

"What is it? Tell me. You asked if you knew me. It's a family heirloom?" Clara fears what the man in front of her might say. Was there something here? Was there going to be something between her and Danny? She had just met him, why this? Why now?

Orson held out the toy to Clara. "Yeah." He says as their hands touch over the toy.

* * *

Clara dropped to the ground to hide under the bed as a man and woman enter the barn where a little boy is lying under the covers. He stopped crying as soon as they entered the room and began talking.

"Why does he have to cry all the time?" The man wonders as they make their way across the barn's floor.

"You know why." The woman chides the man.

"There'll be no crying in the army." He retorts.

"Hush." The unseen woman says.

"Don't pretend you're not awake. We're not idiots." The man says as they come up towards the bed.

The woman tried to speak comfortingly to the boy. It was obvious that she cared about him. "Come and sleep in the house. You don't have to be alone. If you can hear me, you're very welcome in the house, with the other boys. I'll leave the door on the latch. Come in any time."

"He can't just run away crying all the time if he wants to join the army." The man spoke up again as they began to leave.

"He doesn't want to join the army. I keep telling you."

"Well, he's not going to the Academy, is he, that boy? He'll never make Time Lord." Clara tried not to gasp at the man's words. The crying boy was the Doctor. Her friend, the one that had dragged her across time and space. The one who brought her to see Rupert and Orson.

Clara was going to leave. She had grabbed his foot and told him to go back to sleep. She was going to leave but hearing him crying broke her heart. She sat down beside him and hesitantly placed her hand on his head and began to stroke the little boy's sweat dampened hair. "Listen." She began.

"This is just a dream. But very clever people can hear dreams. So, please, just listen." Clara whispered imploringly, "I know you're afraid, but being afraid is all right. Because didn't anybody ever tell you? Fear is a superpower." She smiled to herself as she thought of the words that the Doctor had spoken to Rupert. Time travel. She heard them from him when he was over 2,000 years old but here she was speaking those same words to the Doctor before he was the Doctor, when he was just a scared little boy curled under the bed covers.

"Fear can make you faster and cleverer and stronger." She continued, "And one day, you're going to come back to this barn. And on that day you're going to be very afraid indeed." Clara thought of how the War Doctor would come back to the very barn she now sat in and would have to make one of the most important decisions of his life. To destroy Gallifrey or to save it.

"But that's okay. Because if you're very wise and very strong, fear doesn't have to make you cruel or cowardly. Fear can make you kind." She thought of the Doctor she now knew, of how he had spent a thousand years on Trenzalore protecting Christmas. She thought of all the times he put the safety of others above his own.

"It doesn't matter if there's nothing under the bed or in the dark, so long as you know it's okay to be afraid of it. So, listen. If you listen to nothing else, listen to this." She begged him.

"You're always going to be afraid, even if you learn to hide it. Fear is like a companion. A constant companion, always there. But that's okay, because fear can bring us together. Fear can bring you home. I'm going to leave you something, just so you'll always remember, fear makes companions of us all." As she finished Clara stood and placed the toy soldier beside the boy's bed. She knew that Danny had it in the past – or the future – and that it would come back to her.

* * *

River held two identical toy soldiers in her hand. One she had found in the Tardis among the Doctor's things, the other was a perfect replica. When she had asked the Doctor why he had a broken toy soldier he told her of a dream he had had when he was a child and how the toy was sitting beside his bed when he woke up.

The Doctor frowned, "My memory's still fuzzy but I think I've seen this soldier somewhere else." He rolled the small plastic toy around his fingers.

"What do you mean, my love?" River wondered taking the soldier from the Doctor's hand.

"I think this soldier," he pointed to it with one of his long fingers, "has something to do with Clara."

"Clara?!" River was intrigued. She knew how much it hurt for her husband to be unable to remember his dear friend and she was thrilled every time he remembered something about her.

"Yes, I had connected her up to the Tardis telepathic circuits and she brought us to a children's home," the Doctor spoke slowly as he tried to remember, "there was a boy, he was scared and I think Clara set out little soldiers in his room to protect him and gave him the broken soldier as the boss. He called it something soldier man, I think..." The Doctor lowered his head into his hands and groaned.

River placed the toy down and scooted closer to her husband, "Hush." She soothed as she rubbed his back comfortingly.

That night she went into the Tardis and had a replica soldier made. She knew the Doctor wouldn't want to be parted with the toy, there was little that he had from his childhood, and yet this soldier needed to be somewhere else. In the hands of a scared little boy. A scared child was one of the things that she just couldn't ignore.

Stepping out of the Tardis she made her way down the quiet hall towards one of the bedrooms. She had trusted the Tardis to taker her to the right place, her mother understood and had brought her silently to the children's home.

She tried not to think of her own childhood as she crouched down and pulled out the small container that held toy soldiers. Looking through them she noticed that there was no gunless soldier like the two in her hands. She was in the right place. Carefully placing the replica soldier into the container she smiled, all ready for Clara and the Doctor.

"What are you doing? Who are you?" A little boy's voice caused River to spin around, he looked at her with frightened eyes.

"Just checking that you have the right amount of toy soldiers." She smiled as she made her way towards him.

Rupert took a step back, "Why?"

"Doesn't every boy need soldiers to play with?" She asked as she gently took his arm.

"It looks like you are all ready for bed. Why don't you go to sleep?" She hummed.

Rupert allowed himself to be tucked into bed. Pressing a soft kiss to his head she sent him to sleep instantly.

"Mum skills." She whispered to herself with a smirk as she turned out the light before making her way back to the Tardis and her husband.

* * *

Rem held the small plastic toy in his hand. Carefully placing it in a clear protective case he handed it over to his great-grandson. "It's a family heirloom." His voice was gravelly with age. He was in his fourth body, it was beginning to wear thin but he wanted to pass on the toy before it was time to regenerate. "It's supposed to give good luck." He smiled.

Orson held out his hand and accepted the small box. "It's just a toy." He frowned as he looked down at the object. "And it's broken."

"It's not just a toy. My father gave that to me, you know." Rem tapped the plastic case.

"Really?" Orson looked down at the toy with renewed respect.

"It runs in the family."

"What? What runs in the family?" Orson looked at the old eyes of his great-grandfather.

"Time travel. You know the stories of my parents."

"Yeah, the Songs." Orson nodded, "Though, I always liked your stories better, Granddad."

Rem smiled, his eyes barely visible behind the crinkles of his skin.

"He gave that to me on the day my mother left."

Even after all the centuries, remembering the time that his mother left Darillium and the time he had to find his own way, was hard. His father, the Doctor, left with Nardole in tow. Nardole had thought that he was doing a good job of sneaking behind, unseen, but Rem had known that it wouldn't last long.

He had gone off to University with Philo, his child-hood best friend. It hurt, even now, to think of his best friend gone for centuries but never forgotten. Rem had known that Philo wouldn't live as long as he would but it didn't make the pain any less when the time came. Philo had been his self-chosen 'protector'. He had been Rem's life and learning to live without him had been hard. Even now, even now…

Rem shook his old head and leaned heavily on his cane, "It must have worked. I went to university, got a few degrees, fell in love, fell in love again," The two men shared a smile. "Got married. Had children. Lived to see them have children. Lived to see you be born. I'll never forget the day," His eyes glossed over at the memory, "when my granddaughter said that she was having a boy.

"The part I'll never forget," Rem's eyes focused on Orson, "Is when she said that the father was a Pink. Even now, after all this time, our family is still connected to Clara…." He mumbled the last few words before tapping the plastic again, "So you see, this is good luck."

"Clara?" Orson questioned, his ears pricking at the name. His great-great Uncle had been in a relationship with a woman named Clara. There were still stories of how they saved the world with their love.

"Clara." Rem nodded with a smile.

The old man gave Orson a hug and wished him luck before turning to leave. Orson's mother had been adopted into the Time Lord's family. He had grandchildren and great-grandchildren of many different species. Married and adopted. Yet, just like his father, there was a special place in his hearts for those that were humans. There was something about them that made him hope for the future. Perhaps it was because his mother was part human, or perhaps it was because the beautiful and amazing members of the human race.

* * *

Clara looked down at the little toy soldier in her hand. It was missing a gun. He had kept it. Danny had just died and now she was helping to pack and move his things from his apartment. It was so hard for her these days. It felt as if her world was in chaos.

Closing her hand around the toy she could feel the plastic pricking into her hand. She took a deep breath. It was hard to tell herself that she would be ok, that time would continue on and that she would heal. Holding onto the soldier she felt a small smile curve her lips. It had been days, maybe even weeks, since she had last smiled.

She had a small part of Danny in that little piece of plastic. He was with her, even now.

* * *

From his perch within the Impossible Girl's own Tardis the small soldier kept watch.

Another soldier far across time and space guarded a family. Handed from great-great-grandson to great-great-grandfather to son to great-grandson again and again in a never ending time loop.

The two soldiers looked out for those that loved them. Individuals whose lives were so perfectly combined that one could never separate one from the other. Clara and her Doctor. Though separated by events still connected in the form of a small soldier. A soldier that needed no gun, a soldier that reminded them that fear was a superpower.

 **A/N: So it seems that I didn't solve my own question. Instead there is now two gunless soldiers traveling around the universe. Oh well ;) It was fun to write at any rate :)**

 **What do you think? How does the soldier get passed along? How does it all fit into the story?**

 **Have an awesome day! :)**


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